3 mars 2004
JOHN IBBITSON
It's hard to know whether the public evisceration of Jean Pelletier is being motivated more by sanctimony or feral glee.
Regardless of the reason, the public humiliation of the former chairman of VIA Rail is unseemly. Whatever his sins, this man served his country with honour and dedication. Although I have never met Mr. Pelletier, I'm willing to wager his assassins are lesser men. Assassins always are.
Mr. Pelletier, who is 69, should not be surprised by what has happened to him; he began his career as a TV reporter, he was press secretary to Union Nationale premier Paul Sauv� and he served as mayor of Quebec City for 12 years. He knows how the game is played.
He might not have realized how the game has changed. Even back in 1991, when he joined Opposition leader Jean Chr�tien's office as chief of staff, critics were saying that Mr. Pelletier practised an old-school style of politics that had gone out of favour in Quebec.
It was the sort of politics that had made it natural for mayor Pelletier to call finance minister Jean Chr�tien to push for funding for the Quebec Colis�e, as part of the bid to bring the Nordiques into the National Hockey League. Mr. Chr�tien spoke to sports minister Iona Campagnolo, and the money was found. And why not? Mr. Pelletier and Mr. Chr�tien had been friends since college, where they shared the same dorm, reserved for the tall kids who needed longer beds.
It was always Mr. Pelletier's way to use personal connections to see that things got done, and it is why there were always stories, even when he was mayor, about money intended for one thing being redirected somewhere else. But Mr. Pelletier's personal integrity was never questioned.
What is also beyond question is that Mr. Pelletier helped rescue Mr. Chr�tien from possible political disaster, restoring a sense of calm and focus to a leader's office that was rife with acrimony and confusion.
For 10 years, Mr. Pelletier served as Mr. Chr�tien's right-hand man. He was known to be ruthless; he was also known for an old-world courtliness, and for demanding the highest standards of professionalism and courtesy from his staff. His departure in 2001 to the chairmanship of VIA Rail helped contribute to the disintegration of relations that led to an open breach between Mr. Chr�tien and then-finance minister Paul Martin.
Perhaps, at 66, he was too old to be taking on new responsibilities. Perhaps he was so steeped in an older culture and an older set of values that he forgot himself, describing former employee Myriam B�dard in an unconscionably sexist and condescending manner. (Though it would be extraordinary if there were not more to this story than currently meets the public eye.) Perhaps his apology wasn't sufficiently swift or sufficiently abject.
But then, it wasn't really about Ms. B�dard, was it? Mr. Pelletier is a key figure in the sponsorship scandal. As Mr. Chr�tien's chief of staff, he conferred regularly with former public works minister Alfonso Gagliano on awarding sponsorship and advertising contracts. There is no suggestion that Mr. Pelletier personally profited from any alleged abuse of public money, or was even aware that criminal activity might have accompanied it.
That doesn't matter. Mr. Pelletier was as close to Jean Chr�tien as it was possible for an ally to get, and a prime mover in a government program that started out as a mistake and ended up as a disaster. Prime Minister Paul Martin is trying to put as much distance as possible between himself and that fiasco. He was looking for an excuse to cut Mr. Pelletier loose; Mr. Pelletier fortuitously provided one. The rest of us were happy to celebrate his disgrace.
Perhaps out of all of this will emerge a new and purer politics, one driven less by personal loyalty and personal entitlement. But that does not change this truth: Jean Pelletier gave his life to the service of the people of Quebec, to the Liberal Party and to his prime minister. Especially toward the end, he might not have realized that his province and party were changing, that he and his prime minister were increasingly out of sync with public expectation. Perhaps both of them stayed on too long.
But Jean Pelletier gave too much, for too many years, to be remembered solely for what happened at the end. Those baying for blood and yet more blood should remember the price a democracy pays when due process, the presumption of innocence and civility are lost.
page mise en ligne le 3 mars 2004 par SVP
